"This web mapping application provides users with a simple interface to view, customize, save and print thematic maps of the United States, using data from the 2010 Census. The beta version contains a set of 2010 Census data relating to age and sex, population and race, and family and housing in the United States by county or equivalent entity."

This month the U.S. Census Bureau has released the beta version of a very nice online mapping tool to display the 2010 data. The mapper will create PDF versions of any map produced online (file sizes from 20-55KB) and the user can export the raw data to Excel. While the user is more limited in how to display the data than they would using a GIS, this is a simple way to explore some of the basic census information.

A new study reveals the full extent of globalization in our food supply. More than two-thirds of the crops that underpin national diets originally came from somewhere else — often far away.
Via DrDids, Alan Yoshioka

After an expert panel convened by the National Academy of Sciences issued a long-awaited report on genetically engineered foods, much of the news coverage said it gave GMOs an unqualified seal of approval. In fact, the report pointed to an array of concerns and unanswered questions. Here are the top ten findings of the report that most traditional and social media missed – or got plain wrong.

Americans are more likely than Europeans to be exposed to Monsanto’s glyphosate weed killer. That’s in large part because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s calculations to determine allowable levels of glyphosate use are much more lax than the European Union’s.

American growers sprayed 280 million pounds of glyphosate on their crops in 2012, according to U.S. Geological Survey data. That amounts to nearly a pound of glyphosate for every person in the country. The use of glyphosate on farmland has skyrocketed since the mid-1990s, when biotech companies introduced genetically engineered crop varieties (often called GMOs) that can withstand being blasted with glyphosate. Since then, agricultural use of the herbicide has increased 16-fold.

Jen-ai's insight:

This is one of EWGs top ag articles for 2015. The images are freaky. They show year-to-year changes of estimated glyphosate use since 1992 to 2012. There have been huge increases over a very short period of time. This really speaks to the importance of eating organic if you want to avoid residues of this "probably carcinogenic to humans" weed killer.

Rising use heightens risk concerns. Growing reliance on the broad-spectrumherbicide glyphosate has triggered the spread of tolerant and resistant weeds in the U.S. and globally [5]–[10]. To combat weeds less sensitive to glyphosate, farmers typically increase glyphosate application rates and spray more often [11]–[13]. In addition, next-generation herbicide-tolerant crops are, or will soon be on the market genetically engineered to withstand the application of additional herbicides (up to over a dozen), including herbicides posing greater ecological, crop damage, and human health risks (e.g., 2,4-D and dicamba) [6].

Washington State University researchers have concluded that feeding a growing global population with sustainability goals in mind is possible. Their review of hundreds of published studies provides evidence that organic farming can produce sufficient yields, be profitable for farmers, protect and improve the environment and be safer for farm workers.

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